Tau Beta Sigma National Program Guide

Scouting for Music

Kevin Earnest, NVPSP

with contributions from 2011-2012 District VPSPs

Marlee Newman, WD

Jaclyn Smith, SWD

Nathan Tendick, MWD

Belinda Baker, SED

Elise Mahr, NCD

Alana Leeti, NED

All information about the GSUSA and their programming (including all tables and graphics) are assembled from

their website (www.girlscouts.org) and their 2012 edition of “Volunteer Essentials” publication. Copies can be

obtained from all council offices or websites such as http://www.gs-top.org/volunteer-essentials.

Contents Introduction....................................................................................................................................................... 2

Brief Overview of Tau Beta Sigma ................................................................................................................ 2

Mission ........................................................................................................................................................... 3

Program Summary ............................................................................................................................................. 3

History ................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Girl Scouts of the USA ................................................................................................................................. 3

Scouting For Music Program ........................................................................................................................ 4

GSUSA Organizational Structure ..................................................................................................................... 4

National Organization and Worldwide Sisterhood ..................................................................................... 4

Councils ......................................................................................................................................................... 4

Troops ............................................................................................................................................................ 5

Campus Girl Scouts ...................................................................................................................................... 5

Program Development ....................................................................................................................................... 5

GSUSA Programming Structure................................................................................................................... 5

Leadership Journeys ......................................................................................................................5

The Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting ................................................................................................7

How to Earn Badges ......................................................................................................................7

Developing Your Chapter’s Program ................................................................................................................ 8

Who To Contact ........................................................................................................................................... 8

Starting Your Program .................................................................................................................................. 8

Resources ....................................................................................................................................................... 8

Make a Plan ................................................................................................................................................... 8

Finances ......................................................................................................................................................... 9

Follow-Up ...................................................................................................................................................... 9

Appendix A – Other Important Information ................................................................................................ 10

Adult-to-Girl Ratios ..................................................................................................................................... 10

Safety Guidelines ......................................................................................................................................... 10

Appendix B – Sample Email to Council Contact .......................................................................................... 12

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Introduction The purposes of the Program Guides are to better define the National Programs of Tau Beta Sigma,

provide an accessible resource for members interested in executing programs on the chapter and district

levels, record goals and histories of our programs for future development and growth, and provide a

resource for those not involved in Tau Beta Sigma to learn more about projects that are important to our

organization.

All the information in this guide can be a valuable resource. We suggest that you read it in its entirety at

least once before attempting to implement the program. Even the most experienced members may find

new and helpful information. After familiarizing yourself with these guides, you can use them as a quick

reference when needed. The national program materials serve a vast and diverse community of members.

To help implement the programs, we sometimes provide suggestions about what people across the country

are doing that might spark interest and ideas. At Tau Beta Sigma, we know that not every example or

suggestion we provide will work for every chapter or university.

If you have questions that aren’t covered in these documents, be sure to contact your District VPSP or

National VPSP. Remember that your leaders are always willing to assist you and answer questions.

Brief Overview of Tau Beta Sigma

Tau Beta Sigma is a co-educational national honorary band sorority dedicated to serving college and

university bands. The Sorority numbers over 3,500 active members at more than 140 university campuses.

Tau Beta Sigma operates primarily as a student service and leadership recognition society whose chief aim

is to assist the Director of Bands in developing the leadership and enthusiasm that they require of their

band. Our goals are not only to provide the band with organized and concentrated service activities, but to

give our membership valid and wholesome experiences in organization, leadership, and social contacts.

The honorary nature of membership is based on our premise that "it is an honor to be selected to serve"—

this band, its department of music, its sponsoring institution, and the cause of band music in the nation's

colleges and universities.

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Mission

We provide exceptional service to collegiate bands and promote equality and diversity, including

empowering women in the band profession. We cultivate leadership, educational achievement, music

appreciation and community development.

Program Summary One of the cornerstones of the initial development of Tau Beta Sigma is the participation and integration

of women in music. This includes equal access as a student and equal representation professionally. This

cornerstone continues to be a steadfast mission of Tau Beta Sigma as only a small fraction of music

educators and musicians are female. The beginning of the development of women in this field begins

with getting young people excited about music.

By using developed organizations such as Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), we can create an excitement

for music at a young age. The “Scouting For Music” program encourages this partnership to develop

between local chapters and GSUSA’s council offices.

History

Girl Scouts of the USA

Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low assembled 18 girls from Savannah, Georgia, on March 12, 1912, for a local

Girl Scout meeting. She believed that all girls should be given the opportunity to develop physically,

mentally, and spiritually. With the goal of bringing girls out of isolated home environments and into

community service and the open air, Girl Scouts hiked, played basketball, went on camping trips, learned

how to tell time by the stars, and studied first aid.

Within a few years, Daisy's dream for a girl-centered organization was realized. Today, Girl Scouts of the

USA has a membership of over 3.2 million girls and adults in 112 councils, a significant growth from its

modest beginnings nearly a century ago. In fact, more than 59 million women in the U.S. today are Girl

Scout alumnae.

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Scouting For Music Program

The “Scouting For Music” program was first introduced during the 2007 – 2009 biennium. For such a

young program, chapter participation has developed quickly with a little under half of all chapters having

reported participation in the program’s first few years. The initial program sought to connect troops and

chapters. Today, the program seeks to create a lasting relationship with the council office in order to have

the ability to work with multiple troops in the future.

GSUSA Organizational Structure

National Organization and Worldwide Sisterhood

The national office of Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), located in New York City, employs roughly 400

employees. GSUSA is member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).

Global Girl Scouting ensures that girls have increased awareness about the world, cross-cultural learning

opportunities, and education on relevant global issues that may inspire them to take action to make the

world a better place.

Since 1925, USA Girl Scouts Overseas (USAGSO), a division of Global Girl Scouting, has helped ease the

transition for American families relocating overseas by offering the familiar traditions and exciting

opportunities of Girl Scouting to girls abroad. USAGSO now serves thousands of American girls living

overseas, as well as girls attending American or international schools. Through Global Girl Scouting,

members participate in World Thinking Day on February 22, visit the four WAGGGS world centers (see

the “For Travel Volunteers” appendix), participate in international travel, promote global friendship and

understanding by supporting the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund, and take action on global issues.

Councils

Girl Scout councils are chartered by the national office to establish local responsibility for leadership,

administration, and supervision of Girl Scout program, and to develop, manage, and maintain Girl

Scouting in a geographic area. The national office provides support materials to all councils to ensure that

the Girl Scout experience is nationally consistent.

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Troops

Troops consist of a small group of girls of the same age that are registered members. The Troop is

registered with the Council. After girls join, they team up in the following grade levels: Girl Scout Daisy -

grades K–1, Girl Scout Brownie - grades 2–3, Girl Scout Junior - grades 4–5, Girl Scout Cadette - grades

6–8, Girl Scout Senior - grades 9–10, Girl Scout Ambassador - grades 11–12.

Campus Girl Scouts

Young adults who attend an institute of higher learning may join or start a Campus Girl Scout group on

their campus. While Campus Girl Scouts are full adult members in Girl Scouts and do not form a troop

or sell cookies, joining Campus Girl Scouts allows them to get involved with their campus community and

beyond. They may lead troops, volunteer for Council events, help with paperwork or the cookie sale,

complete service projects- their activities are driven by the members of the group. These individuals can

be great allies in assisting with the logistics of working with your local council. Seek them out, they may

be on your campus!

Program Development

GSUSA Programming Structure

The National Program Portfolio has two main parts – the National Leadership Journeys and The Girl's

Guide to Girl Scouting. Complemented by the Girl Scout Cookie program, Girl Scout travel and Girl Scout

awards, the National Program Portfolio is designed to help girls develop as leaders and build confidence

by learning new skills.

Leadership Journeys There are three different Leadership Journeys series: It's Your Story – Tell It!, It's Your Planet – Love It!,

and It's Your World – Change It!. Each series has separate books and awards for each grade level and a

corresponding adult guide. On every Leadership Journey, everything girls do—whether it's performing

science experiments, creating art projects, cooking simple meals, or learning to protect the planet's water

supply—is aimed at giving them the benefits of the Girl Scout "3 Keys to Leadership": Discover, Connect,

Take Action.

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A girl Discovers her special skills and talents, finds the confidence to set challenging goals for herself and strives to live by her values. This includes being proud of where she came from as well as where she's going.

A girl Connects with others, which means she learns how to team up, solve conflicts, and have healthy relationships. These skills help her in school right now and prepare her for any career she chooses in the future.

A girl Takes Action and makes the world a better place, learning a lot about her community and the world along the way.

To learn more about the Leadership Journeys, head to www.girlscouts.org/program/journeys/.

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The Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting In addition to the resources created for Leadership Journeys, girls at every grade-level have a Girl’s Guide to

Girl Scouting. Through fun activities, girls can earn a variety of badges to build skills and gain confidence.

They can even develop and complete activities to make their own badge—a great way to explore a topic of

personal interest. All badges are called National Proficiency Badges and are grouped in following

categories: Legacy, Financial Literacy, Cookie Business, Skill-Building, and Make Your Own.

How to Earn Badges Each badge begins by stating the badge’s purpose; that is, the skill girls will have learned when they’ve

completed the badge. Girls complete five steps to earn each badge. There are three choices for completing

each step (girls have to choose only one to complete the step).

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Developing Your Chapter’s Program

Who To Contact

In order to best facilitate a well-rounded program and to ease the process, it is wise to utilize the GSUSA’s

existing program structure as outlined above. The best way to do this is to contact your closest council

office directly. Gather contact information on what council you live in by heading to the “Council

Finder” website at http://www.girlscouts.org/councilfinder/. In Appendix B, you will find a sample email

that you can “fill-in the blanks” and send to your local council office.

Starting Your Program

One badge that has the values of both of the two organizations would be the Junior’s “Musician” Skill

Building Activity Badge. However, because every level allows girls to create their own badges, you may

consider working with the council leadership to create a program that fits individual troop’s goals. You

can also host other non-badge related activities. Perhaps you could start a Girl Scout Band or invite a

Troop to sit with your marching band.

Resources

For the Junior’s “Musician” badge, you will need to purchase the activity book for that particular Journey.

The “Musician” badge is part of the It’s Your World – Change It! Journey. Head to the Girl Scout Shop

(www.girlscoutshop.com) and find the badge activity set for that journey.

Make a Plan

When assisting the girls earn their badges, it may be helpful to split them up into smaller, more

manageable groups and have them rotate through stations. This will allow for all members to get involved

by helping to run a station and will keep an individual from becoming too concerned about the details of

each of the stations.

It may be useful to have a committee working on a project of this magnitude. Many items need to be

prepared and coordinated to have a smooth running program. Items that need to be considered include

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room reservation, parking, budget, communication with Girl Scout Council/Troop, snacks, coordinating

the actual program, and signs and paperwork.

Finances

The cost of running a program like this one is not something to be overlooked. Your chapter needs to

plan well in advance of this project to make sure that money is budgeted. Also, the program itself needs a

budget for the various costs that will be associated with the activities.

Follow-Up

Following your program, it would be ideal for you to provide the physical badge earned by the

participants. Your ability to provide the badge will depend upon your program’s budget. Badges are

currently $1.50 each and can be found at the Girl Scout Shop. Another task that is important is to

provide thanks to those who were involved outside of the chapter. This should include at a minimum the

Troop leaders and Council leaders. Lastly, be sure to mark your participation on your Fall Activity Report

and Chapter Summary Report so we can track your service.

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Appendix A – Other Important Information

Adult-to-Girl Ratios

Many chapters will be able to provide many sisters to facilitate their program. However, it is important for

chapters to check that they meet the minimum adult-to-girl ratio. See the table below for the minimum

ratio for different age groups. In addition to the adult-to-girl ratios, remember that adult volunteers must

be at least 18 years old or at the age of majority as defined by the state if it is older than 18. The adults

must be unrelated and at least one of which must be female.

Group Meetings Events, Travel, and Camping

Two adults

Plus One adult for each additional number of girls

Two adults

Plus One adult for each additional number of girls

Daisies 12 6 6 4

Brownies 20 8 12 6

Juniors 25 10 16 8

Cadettes 25 12 20 10

Seniors 30 15 24 12

Ambassadors 30 15 24 12

Safety Guidelines

The GSUSA publish a list of guidelines for volunteers to follow. Many of these guidelines will not apply

for your program and those were not included. For the sake of completeness you can find the guidelines

in their entirety at http://www.gs-top.org/volunteer-essentials. Every adult in Girl Scouting is responsible

for the physical and emotional safety of girls, and we all demonstrate that by agreeing to follow these

guidelines at all times.

Follow the Safety Activity Checkpoints. Instructions for staying safe while participating in

activities are detailed in the Safety Activity Checkpoints, available from your council. Read the

checkpoints, follow them, and share them with other volunteers, parents, and girls before engaging

in activities with girls.

Arrange for proper adult supervision of girls. Your group must have at least two adult volunteers

as described above.

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Get parent/guardian permission. When an activity takes place that is outside the normal time and

place, advise each parent/guardian of the details of the activity and obtain permission for girls to

participate.

Report abuse.

Policy: Any act of child abuse and/or neglect or sexual exploitation that includes, but is not

limited to, physical, sexual or emotional abuse and/or neglect by any volunteer, male or

female, against any girl member is prohibited.

Policy: Volunteers shall report any good faith suspicion or belief of child abuse, neglect, or

sexual exploitation. This reporting responsibility is personal to the volunteer and may not be

abdicated to someone else.

If the conduct occurred during a Girl Scout activity, the volunteer must immediately notify the

Council and file an incident report.

Be prepared for emergencies. Work with girls and other adults to establish and practice

procedures for emergencies related to weather, fire, lost girls/adults, and site security. Always keep

handy a well-stocked first-aid kit, girl health histories, and contact information for girls’ families.

Role-model the right behavior. Never use illegal drugs. Don’t consume alcohol, smoke, or use foul

language in the presence of girls. Do not carry ammunition or firearms in the presence of girls

unless given special permission by your council for group marksmanship activities.

Create an emotionally safe space. Adults are responsible for making Girl Scouting a place where

girls are as safe emotionally as they are physically. Protect the emotional safety of girls by creating a

team agreement and coaching girls to honor it. Agreements typically encourage behaviors like

respecting a diversity of feelings and opinions; resolving conflicts constructively; and avoiding

physical and verbal bullying, clique behavior, and discrimination.

Ensure that no girl is treated differently. Girl Scouts welcomes all members, regardless of race,

ethnicity, background, disability, family structure, religious beliefs, and socioeconomic status.

When scheduling, helping plan, and carrying out activities, carefully consider the needs of all girls

involved, including school schedules, family needs, financial constraints, religious holidays, and

the accessibility of appropriate transportation and meeting places.

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Appendix B – Sample Email to Council Contact Dear _________________,

My name is _________________ and I am a student at ______________ University where I am a

member of Tau Beta Sigma (TBS). TBS is the national honorary band sorority dedicated to serving college

and university bands. The co-ed sorority numbers over 3,500 active members at more than 140 university

campuses. You can find more information about TBS at www.tbsigma.org.

As an organization, we strive to promote equality and diversity, including empowering women in the band

profession. With this in mind, TBS has a national program to partner local chapters with Girl Scout

Councils and Troops to develop musical programming. I am contacting you to start developing a similar

program.

We have a copy of the Junior “It’s Your World” Badge Activity Set which we have used to create the

attached schedule and flyer of the program to earn the “Musician” badge. We will be able to

accommodate ____ Scouts at our program. We are available to host this program on

_________________, _______________, or ________________.

I would like to arrange a phone call to further develop our program and get our partnership started. Let

me know about your availability in the next week.

Thank You,

___________________

____________ Chapter of Tau Beta Sigma

____________ University

(XXX) XXX-XXXX